Fantasy football card game

ABSTRACT

A fantasy football deck of cards comprises a plurality of sets of cards each of which has indicia corresponding to a position of a player on a football team. Each of the cards is also assigned a number value which corresponds to that position. The number values differ for each of the cards. Different variations of fantasy football games can be played from the deck of cards.

BACKGROUND OF THIS INVENTION

With the ever growing popularity of football, various types of fantasy football games have become prevalent. For example, patent application publication US 2007/0015562 discloses a fantasy football poker game. It would be desirable if some form of fantasy football game could be provided, particularly one in which both a certain degree of skill and a degree of luck are required to win the game. The game could be enhanced where some form of betting could take place during stages of the game.

SUMMARY OF THIS INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide a fantasy football game which should have universal appeal to football fans.

A further object of this invention is to provide a fantasy football deck of cards which could be used in the playing of a fantasy football game.

A further object of this invention is to provide variations of different forms of fantasy football games using the same deck of cards.

In a preferred practice of this invention, a fantasy football deck of cards comprises a plurality of sets of cards. Each of the cards has indicia which would correspond to a position of a participant on a football team, such as a player. Each of the cards would also be assigned a number value which could be considered as reflective of a salary cap value. The number value would correspond to the position of the participant. At least some of the cards in each of the sets has a different number value than other of the cards in the same set.

The deck of cards could include 26 cards in each set. Thirteen of the cards could correspond to players in an offensive unit and the remaining 13 cards could correspond to the players in a defensive unit. Since an actual football team would have only 11 offensive players or 11 defensive players on the field at a time, the two additional players on the offensive unit could be a kicker and could be a wide receiver used instead of a running back where a standard lineup would include five offensive lineman, one tight-end, two receivers, one quarterback and two running backs. Similarly, on the defensive side two additional players could be a fourth linebacker where three defensive linemen are used or a fourth defensive lineman where three linebackers are used and could also include an additional defensive back commonly referred to as a nickel back.

One practice of the invention is that the backsides of all cards would look the same. The front sides, however, would differ. A deck of cards could include a set of cards identifying specific players from a specific team such as the offensive unit and the defensive unit from the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles with the same deck including a set of cards from the offensive and defensive units of the 2007 Philadelphia Eagles. The individual cards, however, would be indistinguishable from each other when viewed from the backside.

The deck of cards could be used in different variations of play. A common theme in some of the variations is that a player would be given or have access to 11 or more cards and would then select the 11 cards to be used for the player's team in a particular hand. The value of that team would be determined by a preset ranking such as rules similar to poker including variations similar to poker variations, such as five card stud, deuces wild, etc.

THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-26 illustrate the individual cards in a set of cards having both an offensive unit and a defensive unit in accordance with this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The deck of cards used in a preferred practice of this invention would comprise a plurality of sets of cards. Bach of the cards would have indicia corresponding to a position of a participant on a football team. Preferably the participants are the players. The invention could be practiced, however, where the participants include one or more coaches. Each of the cards would be assigned a number value corresponding to the position of the participant. At least some of the cards in each of the sets would have a different number value than other of the cards in the same set.

FIGS. 1-13 illustrate one practice of the invention wherein the cards correspond to 13 different positions in a defensive unit. FIGS. 14-26 illustrate individual cards corresponding to the offensive unit. Both units in turn comprise a set of the cards.

In the preferred practice of the invention there are at least two sets of cards with the precise number being determined by the number of game players. Where there are three or four game players, the deck of card could include two sets comprising 52 cards. Where there are five or six game players, the deck of cards could include 78 cards. Where there are seven or eight players, the deck of cards could include 104 cards which would comprise four sets. In the preferred practice of this invention the standard deck of cards would comprise 104 individual cards, regardless of the number of players which is preferably from two to six.

Where a deck of 104 individual cards is used it is preferred to have two standard decks of 52 cards. Both of the decks would be composed of two offensive units and two defensive units. One of the playing options would be to play with a deck comprised of only offensive units or defensive units.

FIG. 1 illustrates one of the cards I which is from the defensive unit. In order to readily distinguish the offensive unit from the defensive unit different colors could be used such as providing a green background for the offensive unit and a yellow background for the defensive unit. In the illustrated embodiment a player is shown on each card in mirror image form so that one of the images is always facing forward. Although the illustrated cards show the various indicia or information to be right-side up when the card is held in one position, the same indicia or information could be repeated at each end of the card so that each half of the card is a mirror image of the other half with each half of the card depicting a player and including the indicia or information. Thus, the cards are reversible in that the information is readily viewable regardless of which end is placed up or down on the face portion of the card. Each card includes some general identification of the player's position. Each unit is also comprised of sub-units for different common positions. For example, a defensive unit would include the sub-units of defensive line, linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks. An offensive unit would be comprised of the sub-units of backfield, receivers and offensive line as well as kicker. In FIG. 1, for example, the card 1 includes the notation D LINE to indicate that the player is on the defensive line. The specific position is also indicated by the letters SDE which would denote strong side defensive end. The card also indicates a numerical value of 13. In the illustrated embodiment, the numerical value ranges from a low of one to a high of 13. This value would be used in the playing of various games to determine a winner. A further indicia illustrated on card 1 is the indication of how many players are on that position. In other words, where the defensive unit would have four different types of defensive linemen card 1 indicates one of four. Card 2 for the weak side defensive end would have a numerical value or cap value of 12 and would indicate that it is number two in the set of four defensive linemen. Card 3 would be a defensive tackle with a numerical value of 11 and an indication that it is number 3 in a defensive line of four. Card 4 would represent a defensive tackle in a 43 formation and would be the fourth player on a defensive line of four.

FIGS. 5-7 illustrate the cards 5-7 that would represent three different types of cornerbacks. Card 5 represents a strong side cornerback with a number value of 9 and is one of three players at the cornerback position. Card 6 would represent a weak side cornerback with a number value of 8 and is the second player in the cornerback position. Card 7 represents a nickel cornerback with a number value of 7 and would be the third player in the cornerback position.

FIGS. 8-11 illustrate the linebackers when four different types of linebackers are used. Card 8 is the strong side linebacker with a number value of 6 and indicates that it is one of the four linebackers. Card 9 is the middle linebacker with a number value of 5 and is the second of four linebackers. Card 10 is the weak side linebacker with the number value of 4 and is the third of four linebackers. Card 11 is a linebacker when a 34 formation is used and has a number value of 3 with an indication that it is the fourth of four linebackers.

FIGS. 12-13 illustrate the safeties when two different types of safeties are used. Card 12 is the strong safety with the number value of 2 and an indication that it is one of two players at the safety position. Finally, card 13 represents the free safety with a number value of 1 and an indication that it is the second of two safeties.

FIGS. 14-26 illustrate cards in the offensive unit. Specifically, cards 14-16 represent three different types of positions in the backfield. Card 14 is the quarterback with the number value of 13 and an indication that it is one of three backfield cards. Card 15 is a running back with a number value of 12 and an indication that it is the second of three backfield players. Card 16 represents the fullback with the number value of 11 and is the third of the three backfield players.

Cards 17-20 reflect the receivers when four different types of receivers are used. Card 17 is the wide receiver with the number value of 10 and an indication that it is one of four players at the receiver position. Card 18 is a flanker with the number value of 9 and an indication that it is the second of four receivers. Card 19 is a slot receiver with a number value of 8 and an indication that it is the third of the four receivers. Finally, card 20 is the tight end with the number value of 7 and an indication that it is the fourth of the four receivers.

Cards 21-25 represent the offensive line when five different types of offensive linemen are used. Card 21 represents the left tackle with the number value of 6 and an indication that it is one of five offensive linemen. Card 22 represents the right tackle with the number value of 5 and an indication that it is the second of five offensive linemen. Card 23 represents the left guard with the number value of 4 and an indication that it is the third of five offensive linemen. Card 24 represents the right guard with the number value of 3 and an indication that it is the fourth of five offensive linemen. Card 25 represents the center with the number value of 2 and an indication that it is the fifth of the offensive linemen.

FIG. 26 shows the last offensive player wherein card 26 represents the kicker with the number value of 1 and an indication that it is the only one at that position.

The grouping of players in different positions, such as five offensive linemen being in one group or four receivers in one group or three backfield players in one group can be used to define and identify the variations of hand possibilities. Where, for example, rules similar to poker are used, the types of groupings would be similar to the groupings used when playing poker with a conventional deck of playing cards. Thus, if a game player had all five offensive linemen in the player's hand that might be equivalent to a straight in poker. Similarly, the existence of multiple players at each specific position, such as the existence of four of every specific position in a standard 104 card deck, can also be used to define and identify the variations of hand possibilities. Thus, if a game player had three slot receivers in the player's hand that might be equivalent to three of a kind in poker; having two tight-ends and one slot receiver, however, would not be considered three of a kind. The terminology that would preferably be used would differ from poker in that, for example, instead of referring to three of a kind reference might be made to “3-deep at slot receiver”.

In the preferred practice of this invention wherein the deck contains 104 cards, various types of fantasy football games could be played having, for example, from two to six game players. A deck of 104 cards could result in there being four identical sets of offensive units and four identical sets of defensive units with 13 players in each unit. Alternatively, players could mix sets/units from different teams and different years/release dates without adversely affecting game play (assuming the underlying basics of the game do not change). For example, a 104-card deck might include two identical sets of the offensive and defensive units of the 2004 Philadelphia Eagles along with two identical sets of the offensive and defensive units of the 2007 Philadelphia Eagles (or another team). Because the backside of all of the cards are identical one would not be able to tell which of the specific players is representative of a card without looking at the face of the card.

Through use of the deck of cards previously described, the same deck of cards could be used for playing different variations of fantasy football games. In general, because the cards have different number values a winner of a game could be determined in accordance with some predetermined ranking system. Such a ranking system could follow the rules of poker, as an example, or could be any other arbitrary ranking system which would be apparent when having knowledge of the present invention.

In a preferred practice of the invention in order to heighten the interest in the game, some reward, such as by betting or wagering with money, chips or other items of value could be used. Preferably, a game would begin with an initial ante/wager of money/chips that is placed in the “pot” and made available to be won by the winner of the game. At the end of the game, each player has a hand that could be considered as a fantasy formations card hand. The player with the best fantasy formations card hand wins the ante and all of the bets that have been added to the pot. A fantasy formations card hand is preferably a hand of 11 cards for football participants.

The following are some examples of different variations of fantasy football games that could be played with the deck of cards. One form of play could be considered a “Free Agent” fantasy formations card game which includes community cards. A version of that game might be considered as 1^(st) and Goal where the players are given more than 11 cards to select from, but the winning result goes to the game player with the best 11 card hand. In this variation of the game, each game player would select the 11 best cards from 15 cards. These 15 cards would comprise 10 player specific cards which are specific to each game player plus five community cards that are available to be used or designated by all players. In the playing of this game, each game player is dealt a grouping of cards that the game player holds and does not show to or share with other game players. After this initial grouping of cards has been dealt, the game players have an opportunity place supplemental bets that they will win the hand by ending up with the best hand. Any game player who does not want to bet on that hand can retire and withdraw from that contest, but would forfeit the player's ante. All other bets would be added to the pot. Thus, the game might be played by all of the game players placing an ante in the pot, then the first down would be played where each game player is dealt 10 cards. This would be followed by a betting round then the second down would be played where the dealer adds three cards to a free agent pool which would comprise the community cards that are available for use by each game player. After the second down there would be another betting round. Then would come the third down where an additional card would be added to the free agent pool. This would be followed by another betting round. Then would come the fourth down where a fifth card is added to the free agent pool and this would be followed by a further betting round. Each game player would then select the 11 best cards to form the fantasy formations card hand. These 11 cards would be selected from the game players' own 10 cards and up to five of the community cards or free agent pool. A winner would then be determined by using the preselected rankings.

Although the above description specifically refers to the number of cards that would be initially dealt and then would be later added as community cards, other variations of those numbers could be used. In general, this version of the game would be played by dealing each player a plurality of cards during the first round and adding at least one card to an exposed community pool in a second round. At least one card would be added to the community pool in a third round and finally at least one card would be added to the community pool in a fourth round. Other variations would include using a greater or lesser number of rounds in which there would be the adding of cards and/or betting.

A further variation of a fantasy football game could be considered as a “Draft Rules” fantasy formations card game. In this game after the ante, the players are each dealt a grouping of cards that they hold in their hands and do not show to or share with the other players; additionally, the dealer fills a Draft Pool (a grouping of publicly displayed community cards that will be available for drafting over the course of the game). After this initial grouping of cards has been dealt, the players have an opportunity to place supplemental bets that they will win the hand (end up with the best hand). The players that don't want to bet on their hands can “retire” their hands; get out of the contest and forfeit their ante. All other bets are added to the pot. After this initial betting round, the players take turns drafting cards (selecting from a group of publicly displayed and available cards) one card at a time. After each round of selections, the players either s make additional bets of money/chips or decide to retire from the game. The drafting starts with the player immediately to the dealer's left, then goes around the table to the dealer (one round) and then back around the table beginning with the dealer and so on. In a typical 4 round draft game between four players, the dealer makes the following selections—the 4^(th) selection in round one, the 1^(st) selection in round two, the 4^(th) selection in round three, and the 1^(st) selection in round 4. After the drafting and betting is complete, the players lay their cards on the table, determine who has the best hand and distribute the pot to the winner. Draft Rules Games include:

-   -   Day 1 Draft Picks         -   Ante         -   Deal each player 11 cards         -   Add cards to the Draft Pool; add 4 cards for each player in             the game         -   Betting round         -   Complete round 1 of the draft         -   Betting round         -   Complete round 2 of the draft         -   Betting round         -   Complete round 3 of the draft         -   Betting round         -   Complete round 4 of the draft         -   Betting round         -   Determine game winner     -   In “Stud Rules” Fantasy Formations Card games, instead of         receiving a grouping of cards and then drafting cards as is done         in Draft Rules games, all of the cards are dealt; the players         are all dealt small groupings or one card at a time and they bet         money/chips after each round of cards is dealt. There is no         drafting. Stud Rules Games include:     -   Expansion Teams         -   Ante         -   Deal each player 9 cards down         -   Deal each player 3 cards up         -   Betting round         -   Deal each player 1 card up         -   Betting round         -   Deal each player 1 card up         -   Betting round         -   Deal each player 1 card down         -   Betting round         -   Determine game winner     -   In “Replacement Rules” Fantasy Formations Card games, the         players receive a large grouping of cards to start the game and         follow up with a betting round, then they either draft or are         dealt additional cards. Unlike the Draft Rules and Stud Rules         games in which each player's hand gets larger with each         additional card, in Replacement Rules games, in order to draft         or be dealt an additional card or cards, the player must first         discard an equal number of cards from the existing cards in         their hand. After each replacement round there is a betting         round. After all replacements and betting are complete, the         players lay their cards on the table, determine who has the best         hand and distribute the pot to the winner.     -   Replacement Rules Games include:     -   Roster Limits—dealt version         -   Ante         -   Deal each player 15 cards down         -   Betting round         -   Each player discards up to 5 cards         -   Deal each player up to 5 additional cards (same number as             discarded)         -   Betting round         -   Determine game winner

The predetermined ranking system could be an arbitrary ranking such as indicated below which lists in order 103 rankings that are listed by number and also list the ranking unit such as offensive or defense. The following listing also includes a formation code such as A, B, C etc. and a formation's name such as I-formation (big); i.e., all 11 positions or small where there are less than 11 positions. Finally, the listing identifies the particular players in a formation.

-   -   1—Offense (A)—I FORMATION (BIG)         (QB,RB,FB,WR,FL,TE,LT,RT,LG,RG,C)     -   2—Offense (B)—3 WIDE (BIG) (QB,RB,WR,FL,SLOT,TE,LT,RT,LG,RG,C)     -   3—Defense (A)—8-IN-THE-BOX (BIG)         (SDE,WDE,DT,43DT,SCB,WCB,SLB,MLB,WLB,34LB,FS)     -   4—Defense (B)—43 (BIG)         (SDE,WDE,DT,43DT,SCB,WCB,SLB,MLB,WLB,SS,FS)     -   5—Defense (C)—34 (BIG)         (SDE,WDE,DT,SCB,WCB,SLB,MLB,WLB,34LB,SS,FS)     -   6—Offense (C)—FANTASY 8 (QB,RB,FB,WR,FL,SLOT,TE,K)     -   7—Defense (D)—8-IN-THE-BOX (SMALL)         (SDE,WDE,DT,43DT,SLB,MLB,WLB,34LB)     -   8—Offense (D)—SENSATIONAL 7 (QB,RB,FB,WR,FL,SLOT,TE)     -   9—Defense (E)—43 (SMALL) (SDE,WDE,DT,43DT,SLB,MLB,WLB)     -   10—Defensive (F)—34 (SMALL) (SDE,WE,DT,SLB,MLB,WLB,34LB)     -   11—Offense (E)—I FORMATION (SMALL) (QB,RB,FB,WR,FL,TE)     -   12—Offense (F)—3 WIDE (SMALL) (QB,RB,WR,FL,SLOT,TE)     -   13—Offense (G)—SKILL 5 (QB,RB,WR,FL,TE)     -   14—Offense (H)—O-LINE (LT,RT,LG,RG,C)     -   15—Defense (G)—NICKLE (SCB,WCB,NCB,SS,FS)     -   16—Offense (I)—RECEIVERS (WR,FL,SLOT,TE)     -   17QB×4 (QB×4)     -   18—RB×4 (RB×4)     -   19—FB×4 (FB×4)     -   20—WR×4 (WR×4)     -   21—FL×4 (FL×4)     -   22—SLOT×4 (SLOT×4)     -   23—TE×4 (TE×4)     -   24—LT×4 (LT×4)     -   25—RT×4 (RT×4)     -   26—LG×4 (LG×4)     -   27—RG×4 (RG×4)     -   28—C×4 (C×4)     -   29—K×4 (K×4)     -   30 —Defense (H)—D-LINE (43) (SDE,WDE,DT,43DT)     -   31—Defense (I)—STRONGSIDE (SDE,SCB,SLB,SS)     -   32—Defense (J)—LBs (34) (SLB,MLB,WLB,34LB)     -   33—SDE×4 (SDE×4)     -   34—WDE×4 (WDE×4)     -   35—DT×4 (DT×4)     -   36—43DT×4(43DT×4)     -   37—SCB×4 (SCB×4)     -   38—WCB×4 (WCB×4)     -   39—NCB×4 (NCB×4)     -   40—SLB×4 (SLB×4)     -   41—MLB×4 (MLB×4)     -   42—WLB×4 (WLB×4)     -   43—34LB×4 (34LB×4)     -   44×SS×4 (SS×4)     -   45—FS×4 (FS×4)     -   46—Offense (J)—BACKFIELD (QB,RB,FB)     -   47—Offense (K)—TRIPLETS (QB,RB,WR)     -   48—QB×3 (QB×3)     -   49—RB×3 (RB×3)     -   50—FB×3 (FB×3)     -   51—WR×3 (WR×3)     -   52—FL×3 (FL×3)     -   53—SLOT×3 (SLOT×3)     -   54—TE×3 (TE×3)     -   55—LT×3 (LT×3)     -   56—RT×3 (RT×3)     -   57—LG×3 (LG×3)     -   58—RG×3 (RG×3)     -   59—C×3 (C×3)     -   60—K×3 (K×3)     -   61—Defense (K)—D-LINE (34) (SDE,WDE,DT)     -   62—Defense (L)—CORNERS (SCB,WCB,NCB)     -   63—Defense (M)—LBs (43) (SLB,MLB,WLB)     -   64—SDE×3 (SDE×3)     -   65—WDE×3 (WDE×3)     -   66—DT×3 (DT×3)     -   67—43DT×3 (43DT×3)     -   68—SCB×3 (SCB×3)     -   69—WCB×3 (WCB×3)     -   70—NCB×3 (NCB×3)     -   71—SLB×3 (SLB×3)     -   72—MLB×3 (MLB×3)     -   73—WLB×3 (WLB×3)     -   74—34LB×3 (34LB×3)     -   75—SS×3 (SS×3)     -   76—FS×3 (FS×3)     -   77—QB×2 (QB×2)     -   78—RB×2 (RB×2)     -   79—FB×2 (FB×2)     -   80—WR×2 (WR×2)     -   81—FL×2 (FL×2)     -   82—SLOT×2 (SLOT×2)     -   83—TE×2 (TE×2)     -   84—LT×2 (LT×2)     -   85—RT×2 (RT×2)     -   86—LG×2 (LG×2)     -   87—RG×2 (RG×2)     -   88—C×2 (C×2)     -   89—K×2 (K×2)     -   90—Defense (N)—SAFETIES (SS,FS)     -   91—SDE×2 (SDE×2)     -   92—WDE×2 (WDE×2)     -   93—DT×2 (DT×2)     -   94—43DT×2 (43DT×2)     -   95—SCB×2 (SCB×2)     -   96—WCB×2 (WCB×2)     -   97—NCB×2 (NCB×2)     -   98—SLB×2 (SLB×2)     -   99—MLB×2 (MLB×2)     -   100—WLB×2 (WLB×2)     -   101—34LB×2 (34LB×2)     -   102—SS×2 (SS×2)     -   103—FS×2 (FS×2)

It is to be understood that the above ranking system is given for exemplary purposes and different ranking systems could be used, including adding or deleting some of the hands and changing the names and terminology used.

The deck of cards could be used with the information available on the cards for providing different variations in the game playing. For example, the number value on each card could represent a salary cap for a player. The higher the cap number is, the higher the ranking or importance of the player is within that unit of players. Preferably, the salary caps for each player are reflected on the front side of each of the different player cards.

In the preferred practice of the invention, such as illustrated in the individual cards, there are two units in the game, offense and defense. Preferably, the offense always has a higher ranking/importance than the defense. For example, a kicker with an offensive cap number of 1 would be ranked higher than the strong side defensive end with a defensive cap number of 13. The game could alternatively be played where only offensive units are in the cards or only defensive units, but preferably is played with both units.

The deck of cards comprises a plurality of sets with each card representative of a participant on a football team. Each set comprises an offensive and/or a defensive unit. In a preferred practice of the invention there are 13 cards in each unit. The full deck would thereby be a multiple of 13. In the preferred practice of the invention, a standard 104 card deck would be used.

Instead of having 13 cards in each unit, a greater or lesser number could be used. For example, there could be additional cards representative of coaches, owners, etc. There could be a lesser number of cards by eliminating some of the player positions. Where each unit includes a number other than 13 the full deck would be a multiple of that number.

The player cards could be differentiated from each other by their color scheme, by player abbreviation and by salary cap figure. The player cards could also include codes to indicate what set the particular card is a part of

If two or more players have identical top hands, the tie breaker system could be as follows:

-   -   Each player identifies remaining cards to be included in his/her         starting lineup of 11 players (the starting lineup already         includes the cards that make up the hand that created the tie         situation); the remaining cards should be chosen based upon         their salary cap; the highest salary cap the better the card     -   The individuals in the tie breaker conduct a card-by-card         comparison of the remaining cards in their starting lineups         starting with the highest card     -   The first time that the individuals in the tie breaker have         different cards a winner is determined; the player with the         higher card wins     -   If there is still a tie after this tie breaker system, the         involved players split the pot equally

The following describes alternative forms of game play:

-   -   Extended Play Games     -   Instead of determining the winner based upon high hand and         ending the game after the cards have been dealt/drafted     -   Assign a point value to each hand and document each player's         point total after the cards have been dealt/drafted     -   The card game player with the lowest point value gets to         set/determine the stronger Unit for the ensuing extended game         play.     -   If multiple players have the low score, the player closest to         the Dealer's left gets to set the Unit     -   the Unit can be set to either Offense or Defense     -   the chosen Unit is considered to be more powerful than the Unit         that was not chosen     -   player cards from the chosen Unit are more powerful than player         cards from the Unit that was not chosen; for example:         -   a stronger Unit card with a salary cap of 1 is more powerful             than an non-chosen Unit player with a salary cap of 13     -   Extended Game Play         -   The objective of extended game play is to win/accumulate as             many player cards as possible. Generally speaking, the             player card with the highest salary cap wins; subject to the             following rules:         -   the card game player with the hand having the highest point             total begins the extended game play by leading the player             card of his/her choice         -   if able to do so, subsequent players must play a card from             the same Unit         -   after all players have played a card a winner for the play             is determined         -   if all cards played are from the same Unit, the card with             the highest salary cap wins the play; if there are multiple             highest salary cap cards, the first card played wins the             play         -   if a player(s) is unable to play a card from the same Unit,             he/she must play a card from the other Unit         -   if cards are played from both Units, the player card with             the highest salary cap in the current game's stronger Unit             wins the play; if there are multiple highest salary cap             cards, the first card played wins the play         -   The winner of the play collects the cards face-down and then             plays a card of his/her choice; this process repeats until             all cards have been played         -   Tally the extended game play scores (1 point per card) and             enter the amounts on the score sheet

Combine the game play points with the “best hand” points to determine the game winner.

It should be appreciated that the above description sets forth exemplary practices of the invention. The invention could be practiced with other variations such as the following:

-   -   Different Salary Cap structure; change the relationship between         the various positions (instead of QB having a salary cap of 13         and a Kicker having a salary cap of 1, reverse the amounts so         that the Kicker has a cap value of 13 and the QB has a cap value         of 1)     -   Instead of generic players, use real players from professional,         college, or other real world leagues     -   Instead of using only one player for each position, use multiple         players (for example, instead of having 4 cards of the same QB         included in a deck, have 1 card of 4 different QBs in the deck;         cap values could be either the same or different for the         respective QBs)     -   Add statistical information to the cards; similar to trading         cards     -   Make the cards reversible (the same look regardless of which end         is up or down)     -   Add special team players to the deck     -   Add coaches to the deck     -   Add “special” cards to the deck—wild cards, injured player         cards, holdout cards, etc.     -   Change the color scheme of the cards     -   Change the layout of the cards     -   Change/remove the hand symbols used on the cards     -   Change the method of play from manual to computer based     -   Change the scoring system to be Cap Value based     -   Change the number of cards used in the hands and/or scoring         systems     -   Add/subtract hands from the current hand hierarchy

It should be apparent, based on the above description that the present invention provides a unique set of fantasy football cards which is capable of permitting a wide variety of different fantasy football games to be played A particular advantage is that many of such game variations could be played using the same deck of fantasy football cards. 

1. A fantasy football deck of cards comprising a plurality of sets of cards, each of said cards having indicia corresponding to a position of a participant on a football team, each of said cards being assigned a number value, said number value corresponding to the position of the participant, and at least some of said cards in each of said sets having a different number value than other of said cards in the same set.
 2. The deck of cards of claim 1 wherein each of said sets includes an offensive unit which comprises offensive player positions on a football team.
 3. The deck of cards of claim 2 wherein each set of cards further includes a defensive unit wherein the participants are defensive players on a football team.
 4. The deck of cards of claim 3 wherein the cards representative of the offensive players have a different color background on their face than the color of the cards representing the defensive players.
 5. The deck of cards of claim 3 wherein each set of cards includes at least 11 cards representative of offensive players and 11 cards representative of defensive players.
 6. The deck of cards of claim 5 wherein each set of cards includes 13 cards representative of offensive players and 13 cards representative of defensive players.
 7. The deck of cards of claim 6 wherein the total number of cards in said deck is a multiple of 26 with their being at least 52 total cards.
 8. The deck of cards of claim 7 wherein the total number of cards is
 104. 9. The deck of cards of claim 8 wherein the number value of each card representative of a particular position in a unit differs from the number value of all other cards in that unit.
 10. The deck of cards of claim 3 wherein the number value of each card representative of a particular position in a unit differs from the number value of all other cards in that unit.
 11. The deck of cards of claim 3 wherein one of said sets of cards includes identification information representative of specific players on an actual specific team of a given year and another of said sets includes specific players of a different year and/or team, and the backsides of all of said cards being identical to each other whereby the identity of the specific player is not known when viewing the backside and is known only when viewing the front side.
 12. The deck of cards of claim 1 wherein each set of cards includes multiple players representative of the same position as each other.
 13. The deck of cards of claim 12 wherein at least one of the multiple players having the same position has a number value different than at least one other of the cards representative of a player at the same position.
 14. A method of playing a fantasy football game, comprising providing a deck of cards containing a plurality of sets of cards with each of the cards having indicia corresponding to the position of a participant on a football team and wherein each of the cards is assigned a number value corresponding to the position of the participant with the number value of at least some of the cards of a set differing from the number value of other cards in that same set, dealing the same number of cards to each of a plurality Of game players, and determining the winner of the game in accordance with a predetermining ranking system.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein there are a plurality of rounds of play in which at least one card is dealt in each round of play subsequent to the initial round.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the game players are permitted to bet something of value which is placed in a pot after each round.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein each player places an ante in the pot prior to the first round, the dealer then dealing a plurality of cards to each game player which is maintained concealed by that game player, and the dealer dealing a plurality of community cards face up and known to all game players during the playing of the game.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein each player is dealt a pre-selected number of cards during the first round, each player concealing that player's cards, and the dealer adding at least one card to an exposed community pool available for use by all players in at least one further round.
 19. The method of claim 17 wherein a community pool is established by the dealer dealing cards face up to comprise a draft pool, and the game players taking turns drafting cards from the draft pool one card at a time.
 20. The method of claim 16 wherein all of the cards are dealt with the game players being dealt at least one card at a time and betting is permitted after each round of cards is dealt.
 21. The method of claim 16 wherein after the game players ante into the pot each game player is dealt a plurality of cards face down in a first round and then in some subsequent rounds each player is dealt at least one card face up and in other subsequent rounds each player is dealt at least one card face down.
 22. The method of claim 16 wherein each player is dealt a plurality of cards in the first round and in subsequent rounds each player is permitted to discard up to a predetermined number of cards which would be replaced by additional cards from the deck. 